How to Beat Conor McGregor in EA Sports UFC 3

Well, fight fans, if you’ve been playing EA Sports UFC 3 online lately, you’ve probably noticed that a lot of players are selecting Conor McGregor as their fighter of choice. For the hardcore MMA and video game fan, this can get old in a hurry. You enjoy variety and want to experience many fighters and many different weight classes. Unfortunately, McGregor is the most popular fighter in the world, and it’s unlikely that you’ll avoid getting a steady diet of him in EA Sports UFC 3 so long as lightweight is one of the options you choose for online matchmaking. If you can’t avoid him, I’ll at least teach you how to beat him.

How to Beat Conor McGregor

Before you can beat the players that are choosing Conor McGregor, you must first understand why they are choosing him. In my opinion, you choose Conor McGregor because he’s your favorite fighter and you wish to emulate his style in the game, or because your MMA knowledge is lacking and you think he’s far and away the best fighter in the sport. Maybe he is, but he’s also definitely beatable.

If a player is choosing Conor McGregor because they wish to emulate his real-life MMA style, they are going to be chasing the knockout. They will have a strike-heavy attack full of kicks and punches. They want to land that wicked left hand, and if they do you’re in trouble. However, because you know what they want to do, you also know their weakness and how to overcome it.

For example, Conor McGregor’s grappling rating in EA Sports UFC 3 is 88. That’s not bad (too high, actually), but there are monsters at lightweight when it comes to grappling. Look at Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. Both fighters are at lightweight, and both present the definition of a nightmare matchup for Conor McGregor. You could also go the route of Nate Diaz, who holds a victory over McGregor in the Octagon.

Whoever you go with (I went with Tony Ferguson), the plan remains the same: you want to initiate as many grappling encounters with McGregor as you can, be it in the clinch or via takedowns. The players using McGregor will hate this. Remember, they want to get the highlight reel KO, and you’re tying them up and forcing them to play the transition game.

The key to grappling in EA Sports UFC 3, however, is that you must practice and master it. You must learn how stamina works, how to block transitions, and when to transition or go for the submission yourself. All that information is easily found in the game, either through the Submission Showdown mode, or the training options.

Once you have McGregor to the ground, work on defending your opponent’s transitions and attempts to get up. As you block those moves, they’ll lose stamina. Now, not only do you have a fighter with better grappling than McGregor, you also have the stamina advantage on your opponent. Sink in the submission and contribute to the graveyard of broken controllers over EA Sports UFC 3 rage quits.

There is one more way to approach McGregor if you can’t get him to the ground. It involves staying back from your opponent, blocking a lot, and delivering leg kicks to McGregor’s lead leg, which is always sticking out and ready to be smashed because of his stance. Pepper that lead leg with kicks. For one, it’s harder to block low than it is to block high. Secondly, you are conditioning your opponent and setting them up. The more times you kick the leg, the more they will expect it. Soon, when your foot moves to kick, they will automatically block low, which is when you go high. If you can’t land the leg kick directly, hide it behind a jab. Jab first, then follow up with the leg kick. Most players will not have the skill to block that simple combo. They might block the jab, but not the kick behind it.

Now that you know how to beat Conor McGregor in EA Sports UFC 3, check out all the EA Sports UFC 3 content on Shacknews before you step back into the Octagon.

Bill, who is also known as Rumpo, is a lifelong gamer and Toronto Maple Leafs fan. He is known for his guide writing and, unsettlingly enough, enjoys grinding out in-depth collectible articles. Tweet him @RumpoPlays if you have a question or comment about one of his guides.